After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World

Things weren’t as peaceful as they hoped. Althea couldn’t hold [Woodland Camouflage] forever. She put it down when she thought it was alright. They were outside the scope of the Hollow Forest and were already far from where they separated from the vine, so she hoped it was fine.

Unexpectedly, within five minutes of this, a long, thick branch appeared from the side, trying to grab them!

!!!!

Fortunately, everyone was agile, and they managed to roll to the side at the same time, barely avoiding another branch whip from hitting them.

They instinctively rushed farther away but—

ROOOARRR!

A monster mob appeared. Because of the thick plants in the ancient forest, the wind was dissipated in the areas nearby. This meant that in the zones immediately next to the hollow forest, any ’targetable’ being would be mobbed, regardless of the time.

It was another reason why orcs actively avoided the Hollow Forest when they could. It was troublesome even before you entered.

Imagine getting out of the Hollow Forest, possibly risking life and limb, only to get out and be attacked the moment you exit? It was depressing no matter what.

For orcs, anyway.

For Althea, it could be an opportunity. Didn’t they just do it with the vine before?

At this, Althea looked at the two orcs. ”Do you remember what happened to the monster from before?” she asked, referring to the monster the vine killed. ”Can we do the same with these?”

The orcs blinked at her while they avoided the attacks around them. They obviously didn’t understand at first, and Althea remembered to be more direct. ”Use the plant to weaken the monsters, and vice versa.”

”Ohhh~” the orcs exclaimed, the deer just barely avoiding teeth burying into his leg.

The two nodded, and the three of them rushed back to the plant, but were wary of the branch’s movements. Althea was smaller and was still carried at the back of the deer. Althea didn’t mind as it helped her focus more energy on attacking or defending.

Before, the monster was already injured, so the vine seemed to have finished it off easily. However, the monsters they were now facing were three monsters of that level, and they were not weakened!

”It’s better than nothing,” she said. It wasn’t like they were going to wait for the fight to conclude, right? It didn’t matter if the plant or the orcs won.

And so, they actively lured the beasts near the attacking branches. They went not too close, but just within their reach.

They used the monsters’ bloodlust and speed to build momentum, so when Althea and the orcs abruptly changed directions, they wouldn’t be able to react in time. They’d be tangled with the branches, instead.

They soon realized that the plant was bigger than they thought. What they thought were roots were actually part of its body.

They found this out the hard way, because when they were running away, some of the roots from underground suddenly shot up, hitting them and causing them to fall to the ground.

This moving plant was about a few meters in length and had several ’tentacles’ now slapping them.

Urgh.

This was worse than the vine, right? It was certainly more disgusting.

If this one had any disadvantage over the vine, it was that it seemed to be fixed in place rather than the kind crawling like a snake.

ROOOARRR!!

One monster was stabbed by a branch, another was slapped away, and another was tied up, the branches wrapped around its body. The monsters weren’t weak, so she could see the branches stretch out in tension, their fibers visible, and apparently about to get ripped apart.

But when it did rip, new branches would replace it.

This plant seemed slower to kill than the vine and its thorned body, but it could certainly wear out more monsters at a time.

To be honest, until yesterday, she never would have imagined that there would be a day when she’d ponder brutally killing a plant.

Sadly, the two other orcs were also caught. No matter how much they cut its branch tentacles, it seemed like it would just use others.

”...”

Althea did not jump forward. She watched it closely, but mostly to figure out how to deal with it.

Whether to kill...she would do it if she had to, but she had an affinity with plants, so it went against her instincts to do so.

However, this one smelled of dense blood. Like the vine from before, this tree and its thick, dark trunk felt like it absorbed blood from dozens of people and orcs.

It probably had.

Still, she never even considered using fire. That was even more against the grain of her being, especially considering it could spread out.

Further, she could sense that the wood energy here was rich and thick, to what degree she hadn’t quite studied yet. Just as normal fire would take a long time to burn wood enhanced by a wood elementalist, it was probably the same in this case.

She ran around, avoiding its vines, observing its movements, instincts, and so on. While running around, occasionally used her earth element to either bolster her movements or to help her avoid some direct attacks. She then used her [Eye] when she found a good chance to do so.

It was not easy to use this skill while moving, and especially difficult for her to use it along with other skills, so she could only use it well when she was stable. Another, she could not use [Woodland Camouflage] when using it as well, so she’d be in trouble if she got careless.

But that limitation was only applicable for wood-type elements and skills.

As long as she had mana, she could use the other two elements—earth and water. Such was the beauty of being a multi-elementalist.

She wrapped earth around herself, hiding herself amidst the trees and bushes.

She then used the [Eye]. Even if she had deactivated the camouflage skill, surrounding herself with earth—elementalist earth—could also confuse these plants, even for just a while.

Suddenly, the branches were acting as if they could not see her.

As long as her feet weren’t directly touching the grasses and the roots, it seemed like they could not easily detect her presence.

Or perhaps the earth shield also contributed. She did not know whether these things had a sense of smell, but anything that smelled emitted certain particles, so it was perfectly logical for them to detect people’s ’scents’ this way.

Althea shook her head, forcing the distraction away. With the [Eye], she saw that the wood energy was not just richer in the Hollow Forest, but it was also extremely concentrated in a certain area.

Rather, the condensed ball of energy seemed underground, so her vision was a bit muted, but she could tell where it was denser.

Her eyes sharpened.

Althea created more earth platforms to jump over, taking out her bow and arrow—she chose the high-level Bellagio this time—shooting at the area where the energy was denser.

Whoosh!

WhoosH!

If trees could roar, it probably had. Its branches swayed a bit, carrying the five, though Althea also hit the branches carrying the orcs. The two were thrown aside, with the poor goat hitting a tree.

”Target where my arrow is hitting!” she yelled at them, shooting at that dense energy source. The orcs were injured, but this was not the time to be lying down. It was also why they could not run away but could only face the plant head-on. At their state, they wouldn’t have been able to outrun it (or whatever new plant or mob came their way).

Fortunately, even at their relatively ’low’ levels, orcs were generally tanky. Althea continued to target it while they gathered their bearings and rushed to the monster.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

They continuously attacked it. It responded by tightening the hold on what it could—which were the monsters—and they were strangled a few minutes later.

Three mid-level monsters, killed by a plant. What kind of concept was that? She reckoned even the hundred-year-old human aborigines were unaware of this!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

The orcs rushed to where Althea pointed before, barraging it with attacks. They could run, but the branches instinctively went after them, and with much more intensity.

It wasn’t that these plants had the concept of revenge; it was mostly targeting the orcs because they were delicious.

The orcs and Althea soon killed the plant, but it took a lot more effort than Althea estimated.

The plant did not have a core, but the energy was dense at the main muscles that could control the rest of its body. She watched as the dense energy dissipated and combined with the forest.

Soon, the beast got weaker and weaker. It let go of the monster carcasses (which the orcs inappropriately drooled at, which was a bit silly considering they were ’classical herbivores’), and soon the branch’s movements slowed to a halt.

However, after all that trouble, she found out that plants did not give any experience points. She knew this because people could feel a bit of experience entering. Further, the orcs had the system too, so they could also get alerted whenever they earned experience.

And there was no such thing today.

”Are they not considered monsters?” she asked, a bit miffed that she didn’t earn anything from all that.

She looked at the two orcs, who had fallen down with weakened knees. She went to them and knelt down.

”Tell me more about this place.”